The present invention relates generally to door locks used on vehicle doors.
Some vehicle doors, especially doors on automotive vehicles that have manual door locks, employ latch rods that extend between a bell crank assembly and a door latch. For rear doors in particular on automotive vehicles, the latch rod may be long enough that it has significant mass. The mass of this rod may be enough that, during certain types of vehicle impacts, the inertia from the mass is enough to cause a self-locking of the door. This self-locking due to the inertia during impact may be undesirable and possibly against vehicle regulations in certain countries.
Thus, to avoid this concern, some have added large and heavy counterbalance arms with counterweights to counteract the inertia of the latch rod and minimize the chances of self-locking during certain vehicle impact events. However, this adds to the weight of the door and may create concerns with packaging of components in the door.